Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa says the government is running a cash budget so it cannot pay salaries of civil servants and Members of Parliament when there is no money.
He was responding to a question from Glen View Member of Parliament Fani Munengami who wanted to know what the government policy on salaries for civil servants now was since their pay day had been changed first from 22 May to 29 May and then to 6 June.
“We run a cash budget and a cash budget means that we wait for receipts from ZIMRA before we can disburse to meet the obligations of Government, including the salaries of hon. Members,” Chinamasa said. “So, when resources are not to the level of meeting our obligations, we have to wait. What we are basically talking about is necessitated by the exigencies of our circumstances.”
Q & A:
MR. MUNENGAMI: Thank you Madam Speaker. My question is directed to the Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Baba Chinamasa, Shumba. Hon. Minister, is it now Government policy to change the salary dates of civil servants willy-nilly. This is in regards to the changing dates. Firstly, it was supposed to be on the 22nd and it was then changed to the 29th. Now, there are some allegations that you have been changed to the 6th of next month. We might hear that you might as well change it to next year. Please can you clarify this?
THE MINISTER OF FINANCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (MR. CHINAMASA): Madam Speaker, the question is not touching on policy but what I would want to advise the hon. member is that we run a cash budget and a cash budget means that we wait for receipts from ZIMRA before we can disburse to meet the obligations of Government, including the salaries of hon. members. So, when resources are not to the level of meeting our obligations, we have to wait. What we are basically talking about is necessitated by the exigencies of our circumstances. – [HON MEMBERS: Supplementary!]
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THE DEPUTY SPEAKER: My ruling is that there is no supplementary since it is not a policy question.
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